2008...the year in Review...unabridged

[DocSpotty]

Yes my fellow anglers it is that time of the year….the snow is deep, the water has 40 inches of ice over it and the high up here in the last two weeks was about -15F……today, though it is a balmy -23F at 2pm. Life doesn’t get any better…uh, colder than this. It is time to ruminant on all the finny friends I met in 2008. You’ll just have to grin and bear it as it is time for the year in review…..

Fishing season began with spring break in Mazatlan, Mexico. Very nice place to stay in Mexico, although March is not the best fishing time of the year. Bargained with mom for a few days fishing….beginning with a day trip to El Salto Lake for largemouth. Was a good trip for largemouth…nothing huge but many nice fish to about 7 lbs.:

The beautiful but stark shoreline at El Salto:



The fish:







A few days later the wife and kid accompanied me on a trip to a local esturary to fish…had to be nice and sedate for my wife….she always thinks Jaws is waiting in the water to eat her. Although we didn’t find any big fish I caught several new species getting me up close to 200 for my lifetime:

Black snapper, yellow snapper, panama grunt, spotted cabrilla:









The wife and kid got in on the action also:





She also let me do a half day with many sierra mackerel and a some more new species:

Pacific red snapper, rabbitfish and pacific jack crevalle (toro):







Good trips are not always ones with the biggest fish….great time with the family and several new species to look at and learn…..and eat.

Took a hiatus from my piscatorial pursuits until early May when the ice had receded and thawed here in Alaska. I always like to begin with an early trip up the Talkeetna River for bows and dollies:







And for all you reprobates in the crowd….a little gratuitous beaver action:



May flowed into more than a few trips looking for rainbows hungry before the salmon began to show. Nearly all of my fishing in May is with 3-5 inch mossy green sculpin patterns. The mouth of the Kashwitna and Sheep Creek produced some beautiful spring rainbows:









For the past few years a guide friend and I discovered an area that holds nice kings early in the year…generally near the end of May. I was fishing this spot early one morning on the 21st of May for rainbows when I stumbled onto the first king of the year. Although this area sports a large campground I was the only there and when this big hen took off I was thinking…..YEAH….big trout….about halfway through my backing I knew it wasn’t a trout. Since I was using my 5wt flyrod with 10 lbs tippet there was no way this fish was coming in….that probably relaxed me a great deal, as nearly an hour later she was foundering in the shallows and I ran out and pulled her up not realizing till that moment how big she was:



Caught several more in the next 2 weeks and then they were gone. This beautiful grayling of about 20 inches viciously pounced upon a 5 inch sculpin fly….I thought these guys ate insects?:



All this under the view of a spectacular Mt. McKinley:



After the king action slowed it was back to the small MatSu rivers for rainbows. Took a trip up Deception Creep for some absolutely strikingly colored fish:







The last one of the day was captivating…..coloring was so intense:



Next is the annual trip or two down upper Willow Creek while the kings are running….it was back to beads now as the salmon had started to lay eggs:









And, as always you occasionally hook the proverbial submarine while looking for trout…this one I played in, took a pic and slid it right back in the water….



The other two guys kept playing with this one bow, couldn’t seem to find the handle…..



This brought me to the annual Wight Reunion during the 4th of July on Flathead Lake in Montana. Again, no fingers were blown off although I certainly tried. Hardly fished as the weather was very cool and the wind howled….so I stayed at home to entertain the kids…they only got out skiing once it was so chilly. Took one day over to fish the upper Missouri….was typically exceptional….more water than has been in the river for many years (due to drought)….there were a lot of critters around and the brownies were on:

This deer started crunching right behind and scared me too death:















It was back home and just so you know it happens in Alaska like anywhere….I spent an entire guided day fishing for king salmon on the Kenai River at the peak of the season and the boat struck out…the only fish was this big (for a pink) pink salmon I caught right at lunchtime….so he got et.



Then it’s onto my favorite…Quartz Creek for fall dolly fishing this was 3 or 4 trips over about a month…the sockeye were in and the dollies were porking out:













......to be continued.......

[Nessie Hunter]

Speechless!!!!
Awesome stuff man,, you rock!!!!

I read part 2 first, Im so dyslexic....

[chivo]

WOW!!! that's some good fishing

[mth1997]

Aside from the fantastic photos of fish and places that most of us will never see, I'm always impressed by how well written your reports are. I truly look forward to these. Thanks a ton for sharing your incredible experiences!

[tpfishnfool]

Unreal man ! WOW ! What a life up there huh ? Hey nice fly rod. Is that a sage blank and where did you get the handle ? Sweet stuff.

[Wingnut]

Excuse me while I retrieve my lower jaw from the ground.
Simply awesome Doc!

[one_leg]

In order to prevent you from getting a swelled head I will simply say this.

Nice fish, Doc.

I am still waiting for a floatplane fishing adventure report from you.

[troutdog]

What an awesoem recap of 2008...already looking forward to the 2009 reports when you thaw out.

Thanks for sharing Doc,


TD

[DccFISHerMan]

Lucky!!!!!!!

[Seng90806]

thats what im talking about